NEW YORK TIMES: Pro football summer training camps were once filled with two practices a day, grueling sessions that featured helmeted players clashing gladiator-style under a merciless sun.
That was before the average N.F.L. salary soared to more than $2 million, forcing coaches and owners to weigh the risk and cost of preseason injuries. At the same time, the athletic community has been responding to research outlining the cumulative, debilitating effects of recurrent head trauma, even in practice. What’s left is a training camp landscape that would have been unrecognizable 10 years ago.
As 32 N.F.L. teams opened their camps, the new practice model virtually prohibits tackling and tolerates only nominal full-scale contact between the players, often no more than five minutes a week… (more)
EDITOR: There is a message for parents in this. Why expose children to injuries, especially from concussions, when they can play far less dangerous soccer or lacross?
There are precious few major college scholarships, and even fewer professional leagues for (major dollar contracts) for these athletes (and their families) to aspire to. Neither soccer or lacross would be attrractive to high school athletes for those very reasons.